Monday, April 23, 2007

Report: Large trucks restricted in Mosul, lone drivers 'will be shot'

Above: Men being 'detained' in Mosul last week. Under emergency powers, such arrests may be made on suspiscion, and no charges need ever be filed, nor the detainee ever released.

Mosul, Apr 23, (VOI) - The Ninewa governor decided on Monday to restrict the movement of large trucks and tankers to only three hours everyday inside Mosul for fears of being attacked and of being used in suicide bombings in the northern Iraqi city.

"Security forces will continue tracking down gunmen in the city of Mosul to prevent attacks against trucks and tankers," Duraid Mohammad Kashmoula told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone.

"As of tomorrow a ban will be imposed on large vehicles and oil and water tankers," he added.

"These vehicles are only allowed moving within the city from 6 pm till 9 pm on a daily basis," the governor also said.

"The driver has to have a companion beside him in the truck, otherwise he will be shot by security forces," the governor warned.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi police said that an armed group blew up an empty building, which is being used as an ambush by police forces in al-Wehda neighborhood, southeast Mosul, using explosive charges, director of the operations room in the Ninewa Police department Brigadier Abdul Karim al-Juburi said.

An Iraqi police patrol hunted down a gunman in a garage in Talafar city in southwestern Mosul, killing him and seizing two Kalashnikovs, two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) and a machine gun inside his car, he noted.